Originally posted 4/1/2009.  

There’s a thing, “30 Poems in 30 Days,” that a lot of poets do in April.  As I regularly did that many poems and more in a given month back when I was writing new stuff,  I always felt I had to buck the tide a little and either do more or do something else entirely. That year, I wrote 30 poems in 3 days.  This was #2.

Pay attention
to what the cat sees in you;
stop worrying
that your failures have made you 
into a werewolf.

No point
in wasting the whole day waiting 
for nightfall and its heavy moon
to fool you into horror at your changed self.
Stop treating yourself to absolute guilt.

Look, he’s rubbing your leg,
asking for food
or a thorough scratch.
He believes 
in love and order,

and when you respond, 
reaching down 
from your desperate seat on the couch
to lift him up 
and offer what he is asking for,

you are that.
Trust him. 
He knows
more of the truth about you
than you allow yourself to know.